Pony Bottle / Spare Air

[Atomic_Diver]

I see your and i raise you a :beer:

 

[Blackwood]

I cannot turn off my own regulators on the single tank I have.

Sounds like it's in the wrong place.

 

[BrotherBear]

OK, so I've stumbled into the equivalent of an oil or a tire thread (bikers, you KNOW what I mean )

What I can offer is this...
I subscribe to a variety of forums and have for many years...probably as long as there have been forums...and the ones like this one where any kind of question is generally welcomed and answered with patience and respect tend to be places that attract quite a few posters and stay active for many years.
The boards reaction to the inevitible and perrenial newbie questions is typically a measure of the tone of the board overall. There will always be the opinionated, the loud, the hyper-critical among the denizens of any board...this cannot be avoided and is a product of human nature (not to mention a source of endless fun once you learn who's who ) but so long as the friendly, patient, and genuinely helpful folks dominate the board will thrive. After all, how hard is it to just NOT read a repetitive thread if it bothers you? That is one (ironically) repetitive question that I have seen asked over and over and have NEVER seen an answer from an anti-newbie whiner that made any kind of sense.

On the other hand those boards that are openly hostile to repetitive threads and shout down newbie perrenials with responses like "learn to use the search engine" tend to be places that wither and die as they fail to attract and retain new members.

Oh well, here's hoping that my initial impression of this forum as a useful source of information and friendly SCUBA related discussion was correct. I'm sure it will be fun sparring with you folks as I learn the ropes.

Judging by the search results for "Spare Air" and "Pony Bottle," I'd say you're gonna need a wooden stake, a silver bullet, a pouch of salt, twine, a needle, holy water, an old lamp, and quite possible a box made out of kryptonite.

Either that or moderators who make a sticky out of something and then ban further discussions...

 

[Reg Braithwaite]

I'm sure it will be fun sparring with you folks as I learn the ropes.

No sparring needed! AFAICT this thread has included lots of useful information, advice, and shared experience. That ought to be a positive for anyone who hasn't already made up their mind about whether to use a pony or SpareAir.

It is fun to laugh about how we repeat the same old, same old all over again. But we do it just the same! Now for a serious question:

When carrying a 19cf pony, what size wing should I use? If I use a standard BCD, does it have enough lift? And do I clip the pony across my body for balance, onto the left hip and chest D rings, or the right hip and chest D rings?

 

[BrotherBear]

No sparring needed! AFAICT this thread has included lots of useful information, advice, and shared experience. That ought to be a positive for anyone who hasn't already made up their mind about whether to use a pony or SpareAir.

It is fun to laugh about how we repeat the same old, same old all over again. But we do it just the same! Now for a serious question:

When carrying a 19cf pony, what size wing should I use? If I use a standard BCD, does it have enough lift? And do I clip the pony across my body for balance, onto the left hip and chest D rings, or the right hip and chest D rings?

I had planned to clip it to an old choke collar that I borrowed from my dog so it would be near my face at all times...is that wrong?

 

[Atomic_Diver]

Leave the damn pony to the little kids to play with, this just boils down to who the heck is so wreckless that they need a pony tank for insurance, can they not plan their own dives? Just use a damn h or y valve, or dive doubles, and plan your dives, and you will find no use for a damn pony or spare air....

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Leave the damn pony to the little kids to play with, this just boils down to who the heck is so wreckless that they need a pony tank for insurance, can they not plan their own dives? Just use a damn h or y valve, or dive doubles, and plan your dives, and you will find no use for a damn pony or spare air....

Chill out! This is supposed to be a basic forum, "flame free". Lets keep it that way.

 

[Chris12day]

Spare Air is just no good for a bailout below 70' as far as i am comfortable with, Pony Tanks can be really helpful, yet if your going to just go ahead and carry 2 tanks have you gave any thought to diving doubles? diving doubles gives you more air, a way of isolating 2 seperate tanks (that otherwise are connected) if a problem should arise with the regulators, o-rings in 1 of the tanks etc..., among other things, but in reality (unless your a hoover) at the depths you would be using the pony bottles/spare air if an emergency arised you would be very close to if not past your no deco limits, so basically simply put you would (most likely) be watching your no deco time as well, because another thing to consider is if you are at deep depths you may have enough air to get you to the surface with the Pony bottle, but now your main tanks empty at 110' and you have a 19 cu ft pony, your past no deco and need to compleate some deco stops, and a pony tank may not be enough for the total time of stops needed, a surface support station could fix some problems, but I just reccomend diving doubles......

I usually dive with an insta-buddy, off a boat, with other AOW divers. I did not consider doubles because my insta-buddy would be surfacing long before I have used up my air. My SAC rate is also low. Doubles would not allow me a limited redundant system given a problem with my system or my insta-buddies system, maybe I am wrong (Again, I have not investigated doubles).

I have never been in the deco area. On deep dives, I take a 1 min stop at one half my max depth and a 3 min safety stop at 15 ft (3 meters for the rest of the world).

Thanks again to all....I have learned a lot!

 

[halocline]

After all, how hard is it to just NOT read a repetitive thread if it bothers you?

Apparently it's impossible.:depressed:

I have no problem with pony use; 13cft and larger bottles are legitimate bail-out bottles and there are lots of well-informed divers that choose to use them, although I still think it's very important to consider EXACTLY what problem(s) you are trying to solve, and consider ALL the options for solving those problems, as well as all the implications of not solving those problems through other safe diving practices.

 

[Dr Wu]

I had planned to clip it to an old choke collar that I borrowed from my dog so it would be near my face at all times...is that wrong?

Depends on where you bought the dog hardware...

Nix Dog Collars is pretty much the only joint where doggie stuff is considered "dive kosher". They have SS springs!

That said, enjoy your Pony. It is a very popular piece of gear these days for the newbies.

As you have stated:

the thought of running out of air due to some kind of failure scares the CRAP out of me.


This is the only thing about diving so far that moves beyond healthy respect into outright fear.


I'm not certain that I wouldn't panic if I drew on my regulator and got nothing.

It's all cool. I understand you are looking for problems that don't exist. Everyone does that when they start.

Just dive for a while and you will see how silly all this "Pony" stuff is.

Untill then, clip the bottle to the front.